Updated College Football Conference Championship Scenarios & Bowl Eligibility Tracker for Week 13
Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images. Pictured: Oregon quarterback Bo Nix.
Below, you will find the conference title scenarios for each conference heading into the final week of the regular season. I also listed the teams still fighting for bowl eligibility in each respective league.
American Athletic Conference
The winner of Tulane-Cincinnati will host the conference championship game.
With UCF losing to Navy last week, things got a little more complicated for determining the second team.
If Houston beats Tulsa and UCF beats South Florida, there will be a three-way tie between those two clubs and the loser of Tulane-Cincinnati, which would be decided based on the highest-ranked team in this week's College Football Playoff rankings.
However, there's a clause that states if no ranked team in the CFP won its final game (which would likely be the case here), it would go to a computer composite ranking.
There's a cleaner scenario where UCF would get in if Houston loses to Tulsa or the loser of Tulane-Cincy would get in if both UCF and Houston both fall.
Teams still fighting for bowl eligibility:
- N/A
Atlantic Coast Conference
The conference title game matchup is already set between Clemson and North Carolina.
Teams still fighting for bowl eligibility:
- Miami (5-6): vs. Pitt (7-4)
- Georgia Tech (5-6): at Georgia (11-0)
Big 12 Conference
TCU has clinched a spot in the Big 12 Championship game. The Horned Frogs will face Kansas State if the Wildcats take care of business at home against Kansas.
However, if Kansas State loses, Texas would go to the Big 12 Championship with a home win over Baylor. Kansas State would go if both lose.
Teams still fighting for bowl eligibility:
- N/A
Big Ten Conference
The winner of Ohio State-Michigan will represent the East in the Big Ten title game. They will take on either Iowa, Purdue or Illinois.
Iowa just needs to beat Nebraska to win the West. If Iowa slips up, Purdue would win the division with a win at Indiana. Illinois also still has a shot with a win over Northwestern if both Iowa and Purdue lose.
Iowa also would go to Indianapolis with a loss if both Purdue and Illinois lose.
Teams still fighting for bowl eligibility:
- Michigan State (5-6): at Penn State (9-2)
Conference USA
UTSA has clinched a spot in the conference championship game, which it will host in the Alamodome. North Texas simply needs a home victory over Rice to punch its ticket.
However, if Rice pulls off the upset, Western Kentucky would head to San Antonio with a win at Florida Atlantic, which would set up a rematch of last year's conference title game.
Teams still fighting for bowl eligibility:
- Florida Atlantic (5-6): vs. Western Kentucky (7-5)
- Rice (5-6): at North Texas (6-5)
- UAB (5-6): at Louisiana Tech (3-8)
- UTEP (5-6): at UTSA (9-2)
Mid-American Conference
Toledo has already clinched the West Division and will play the winner of the East Division in Detroit for the MAC Championship.
In the East, Ohio holds a one-game lead over Buffalo and Bowling Green. Since the Bobcats already have a head-to-head victory over Buffalo, they can clinch the division by simply beating Bowling Green.
Bowling Green can get in with a win over Ohio plus a Buffalo loss to Kent State. Meanwhile, Buffalo would win the East with a win and an Ohio loss in the MAC's uneven games tiebreaker, assuming the league doesn't reschedule the Akron-Buffalo game.
If the Buffalo-Akron game does get rescheduled, it would only matter if Ohio loses to Bowling Green. If that's the case, Buffalo would also need to defeat Akron to win the East, or else Bowling Green would go to Detroit.
Teams still fighting for bowl eligibility:
- Buffalo (5-5): vs. Kent State (4-7)
- Ball State (5-6): at Miami (OH) (5-6)
- Miami (OH) (5-6): vs. Ball State (5-6)
Mountain West Conference
The conference championship matchup is already set between Boise State and Fresno State.
Teams still fighting for bowl eligibility:
- N/A
Pac-12 Conference
USC has already punched its ticket to the Pac-12 Championship since it finishes the season with a nonconference game against Notre Dame.
The Trojans will face one of Oregon, Washington or Utah — which each have the following paths with the UCLA-Cal game potentially mattering for tiebreakers.
- Oregon: Win over Oregon State or a Washington loss
- Washington: Win over Washington State + Oregon loss + either Cal beats UCLA or Colorado beats Utah
- Utah: Win over Colorado + Oregon loss + Washington win + UCLA win
Teams still fighting for bowl eligibility:
- N/A
Southeastern Conference
The conference championship matchup is already set between Georgia and LSU.
Teams still fighting for bowl eligibility:
- Auburn (5-6): at Alabama (9-2)
- Missouri (5-6): vs. Arkansas (6-5)
- Vanderbilt (5-6): vs. Tennessee (9-2)
Sun Belt Conference
Coastal Carolina has already clinched the Sun Belt East to punch its ticket to the conference championship game. In the West, South Alabama and Troy are currently tied atop the standings at 6-1 in league play.
Since Troy owns the head-to-head tiebreaker, it simply needs to win at Arkansas State to clinch the division. Meanwhile, South Alabama would need a win and a Troy loss.
Teams still fighting for bowl eligibility:
- Louisiana (5-6): at Texas State (4-7)
- Appalachian State (6-5)**: at Georgia Southern (5-6)
- Georgia Southern (5-6): vs. Appalachian State (6-5)
- Southern Miss (5-6): at UL Monroe (4-7)
**Appalachian State has already won six games, but two of those victories came against FCS opponents. FBS programs may only count one FCS win toward bowl eligibility.
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